Former Sri Lanka Ports Authority chairman’s wife questioned over money laundering
Colombo: Former Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrema is understood to be in hot water, with the Central Intelligence Department (CID) launching investigations against his wife over alleged money laundering in deals done by her husband with, among others, China Communications Construction Company, which is building the Colombo Port City on reclaimed land.
“Wickrema’s wife Kumari and Damayanti, spouse of Member of Parliament Sajin Vaas De Gunawardene, have been questioned at CID headquarters on Wednesday, and their statements recorded,” said police media spokesman, Assistant Superintendent of Police Ruwan Gunasekara.
Wickrema was all-powerful during the six-year rule of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and had been virtually given a blank cheque to improve the state of shipping and ports in the island nation. He was responsible for taking forward the South Harbour project, which seeks to add 7.2m teu container handling capacity to Colombo port’s current installed capacity of 4.30m teu.
South Harbour, when complete, will have three box terminals of 2.4m teu each, with the first one, Colombo International Container Terminal, mainly owned by China Merchant Holdings, being already operational for the last 18 months.
Wickrema was also responsible for developing ex-President Rajapaksa’s constituency Hambantota as the second largest port on the island, currently being mainly used for car imports.
While Wickrema has been accused of large-scale financial irregularities in deals with the Chinese, whose influence on the island has increased by leaps and bounds in recent years, his supporters have alleged that the present regime of President Maithripala Sirisena has been conducting a witch-hunt, and that Wickrema’s wife was being questioned about the purchase of expensive sarees from the market.
